The posts in this column are intended as an episode-by-episode guide to the many unexplained New Orleans references in HBO’s “Treme,” which premiered April 11, 2010.

Paul Schiraldi/HBOJohn Goodman in 'Treme.'

It contains spoilers, but also a lot of information and links that might help viewers of the series better understand the show’s characters and stories, as well as the city and time period in which it’s set.

The density of local references in "Treme" demanded a team effort. This post is a revised version of a post that originally appeared the night of the episode's premiere, June 13, 2010, and it incorporates contributions from and observations by viewers who commented below or on another www.NOLA.com post -- find it here -- that asked readers to write mini-reviews of the episode.

For starters, review a comprehensive archive of the Times-Picayune’s Katrina coverage, including an animated map of the levee failures. In addition, these books, links,CDs, DVDs and streams might prove helpful. Also, go deep into the musical culture celebrated throughout "Treme" at www.AmericanRoutes.org. The website for Nick Spitzer's American Public Media radio series, produced in New Orleans, has a searchable archive, and holds hundreds of hours of informative, pleasurable listening.

Considered a classic of Southern literature, “The Awakening” is an 1899 novel by St. Louis-born Kate Chopin. It is set in New Orleans but begins and ends on Grand Isle, besieged by BP oil at the time the episode first aired. The book concludes when the novel’s protagonist, Edna Pontellier, commits suicide by swimming into the Gulf of Mexico. Chopin’s father was Irish, her mother, French.

Kim Dickens, the actress who plays Janette Desautel, is a native of Huntsville, Ala.

Try the French fries, prepared in duck fat, at the New Orleans restaurant Herbsaint. A French oven is a lidded, porcelain-coated iron cooking pot.

Davis McAlary can’t hear the knock at the door because he’s listening to Smiley Lewis’s mid-1950s recording of “I Hear You Knocking,” a pop hit for Dave Edmunds in the early 1970s. Lewis recorded the original “Shame, Shame, Shame,” covered by McAlary as a campaign song in episode five. Huey “Piano” Smith, who later with his band The Clowns made several hits -- including “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” (a pop hit for Johnny Rivers in 1972) and "Don't You Just Know It” -- played on the Lewis track.

PostMardum Depression. Also known as Lent.

Kicked out by Sonny, Annie goes to stay with saxophone player Aurora Nealand of the Panorama Jazz Band, among other New Orleans musical aggregations. She was in the studio for Davis McAlary’s recording of “Shame, Shame, Shame” in episode five.

Janette drops in on England-born New Orleans pianist Jon Cleary, who in addition to his solo career has backed Bonnie Raitt and John Scofield, among others. That’s Derwin “Big D” Perkins, of Cleary’s band The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, on guitar. Cleary’s band performs at Janelle’s Bacchanal gig. Cleary was one of Davis McAlary’s guesses when he was trying to determine the piano player’s identity at Lolis Eric Elie’s gumbo party in episode eight.

“While the city's high water table was one key reason that bodies were buried above ground (every native has heard at least one floating coffin story), another important one was custom,” she wrote. “Since some of the first New Orleanians were European, they often preferred a European-style burial -- in above-ground tombs.

“The ‘family tomb,’ sometimes called a private tomb … (was) made of soft, red Louisiana brick. To preserve this brick, the walls were plastered, then whitewashed. Ownership allowed a family freedom in design, and this outlet for lasting expression accounts for the many styles of architecture and statuary evident in St. Louis No.1 and the other older cemeteries.

“Typically, a coffin is placed in the upper of the two vaults, with subsequent burials displacing the first coffin to the lower level (most family tombs have two vaults, sometimes three), until all the vaults are full. After enough time has passed -- and according to Louisiana law, a corpse must remain in the casket for a year and a day, usually enough time for the body to decompose -- the remaining contents of the lower vault are placed in the caveau, a space in the tomb's foundation.”

In the January-February 2006 newsletter for the New Orleans Save Our Cemeteries preservation and restoration group, president Yancey Jones wrote, “(E)very historic cemetery in the city received either flood or wind damage. To the historic tombs that sat in floodwater for weeks on end, we will likely not see the extent of the damage for a few years to come.”

The newsletter also reported that the group’s post-storm restoration and cleanup efforts began just a few weeks after the storm – on All Saints Day.

Here’s a Times-Picayune story that details ongoing cemetery-restoration efforts nearly two years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Meeting his neighborhood strippers reminds Davis of “Heaven Must Be Like This,” a ballad on the 1974 album “Skin Tight” by the Ohio Players.

In this piece for The New Yorker, Dan Baum recounted 2005 St. Joseph’s Night trouble between Mardi Gras Indians and New Orleans Police.

“In 2005, Sixth District police officers swooped in on the St. Joseph’s Night celebration in A. L. Davis Park, across from the C. J. Peete housing project, and broke it up,” Baum wrote. “Anthony Cannatella, the Sixth District captain at the time, told me that the Indians didn’t have a permit to parade that night and that his station had received nervous calls from citizens. But, traditionally, the Indians don’t request a parading permit for St. Joseph’s Night; it’s their way of declaring themselves, for one evening, as being outside the structure of modern society. The Indians and the many New Orleanians who cherish them were so outraged at the police that the City Council called a special session, essentially to let the Indians castigate the cops. First to speak was Allison (Tootie) Montana, the legendary Chief of Chiefs who, through his artistry and character, had purged Indian culture of the violence that used to characterize it and elevated the Indian suit to a dazzling art form. As Montana began speaking to the council about generations of police repression against Indians, he suffered a heart attack and collapsed dead on the council floor. To the Indians, it was as though the Chief of Chiefs had died in combat for the rights of the Indians.”

Times-Picayune reporter Michael Perlstein wrote about Montana’s death on June 28, 2005:

“Allison ‘Tootie’ Montana, one of the most revered Big Chiefs to emerge from the century-old street culture of Mardi Gras Indians, suffered a fatal heart attack while speaking at a special New Orleans City Council meeting to discuss the St. Joseph's night confrontation between Indians and police.

“Montana, 82, was at the podium, surrounded by more than a dozen other chiefs when he fell silent, then slumped to the floor. As murmurs and prayers began rising from through the standing-room-only crowd, a police captain and bystander worked furiously to revive Montana. He died a short time later at Charity Hospital.

“Montana was stricken as he recounted run-ins with police stretching back several decades. He was not scheduled to appear at the long-awaited hearing, but he insisted on speaking out of his devotion to Indian life and a desire to smooth over the recently frayed relations with law enforcement. Montana was among the first speakers after brief opening comments by Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.

“Montana's last words were, "I want this to stop," apparently referring to the cultural miscommunication that disrupted the Indian gathering March 19 at LaSalle Street and Washington Avenue. Participants complained that the traditional gathering was dispersed by police, some of whom were verbally and physically abusive.

“The St. Joseph's night confrontation ended with a summons being issued to the organizer, Betrand Butler, and the arrest of Butler's daughter. As they were being booked with disturbing the peace, about 2,000 revelers were sent home by police officers. City officials said they shut down the festivities because Butler had not obtained proper permits for the event and the gathering had grown too large. Indian leaders, however, said they have gathered on St. Joseph's night without permits or major problems for more than 100 years.”

Lolis Eric Elie, then a Times-Picayune columnist and now a “Treme” staff writer, also wrote about Montana and his legacy shortly after the chief’s death.

“This man, the cultural warrior, had gained acclaim in the world of art and artists,” Elie wrote. “Still, he had to fight in front of his own city's council members for the respect others had so willingly accorded him.

“Here he was, the peaceful chief, fighting a battle that the Indians have consistently lost over the years because generations of police officers seem to view them more as nuisances than artists.”

In his New Yorker piece, Baum reported that St. Joseph’s Night 2006 “passed uneventfully.” But this story, by Times-Picayune reporter Katy Reckdahl published in December 2010, recounts ongoing friction between the Indians and NOPD.

Annie’s new busking partner is played by James Waterston, son of “Law & Order” actor Sam Waterston. James Waterston’s credits include “Dead Poets Society,” “Six Feet Under” and “The Good Wife.” The song they perform is Randy Newman’s “Dixie Flyer” from the 1988 album “Land of Dreams.” A Los Angeles native, Newman lived in New Orleans as child.

“The Big Easy and Bayou State have long fired Newman’s imagination, ever since he spent a chunk of his childhood in Uptown New Orleans, home to his mother’s kin,” wrote the Times-Picayune’s Keith Spera in advance of a 2003 Newman concert here. “He and his family moved to Jackson, Miss., and Mobile before finally settling in Los Angeles, the town Newman has called home since his teen years.

“But Louisiana scenes and characters have made frequent cameos in his compositions, from the flooded streets of Evangeline in ‘Louisiana 1927’ to the Garden District references in ‘Dixie Flyer,’ from the Huey Long remembrance ‘Kingfish’ to the ‘college men of LSU’ in ‘Rednecks.’

“Newman, 58, has relatives in Louisiana and tries to keep tabs on current events. And he considers his performance during a downpour at the 1994 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival ‘probably the most memorable performing experience I’ve ever had. It was (the audience) who made it special, standing out in the rain. (Jazzfest) is a great event, the best festival in the country like that.

" ‘I was down there with one of my boys. He was watching B.B. King at the other end (of the Fair Grounds), and he missed my show. It was a very New Orleans thing to do.’"

Davis Rogan, model for the Davis McAlary character and a consultant/writer for “Treme,” plays piano at McAlary’s party. Dr. Jimbo Walsh, who played bass on McAlary’s “Shame, Shame, Shame,” also sits in on the jam session. Other musicians at the party: Charlie Kohlmeyer, Tyrus Chapman, Joe Braun, Glen Andrews.

The woman who sings Irma Thomas’s “Wish Someone Would Care” in the key of D is New Orleans actress Tara Brewer, a Slidell native educated at the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette who teaches dance and choreography at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

Tara Brewer.

Here, former Times-Picayune theater critic David Cuthbert writes about Brewer’s performance in a July 2008 staging of “Where the Girls Were” at New Orleans’ Le Petit Theatre. Carl Walker, who plays McAlary’s neighbor Don in “Treme,” directed Brewer in that show and suggested she audition for the “Treme” role.

“He said, ‘They’re looking for somebody who can look a like a stripper and sing,’” said Brewer, who, after determining that no actual stripping would be involved, met with a casting director for the show. After a callback audition, she got the part.

Brewer, who regularly performs at the National World War II Museum, said she studied Thomas’ record before pre-recording the tune at Piety Street Recording backed by the musicians who appear in the scene.

“I did listen to her a couple of times,” Brewer said. “I didn’t necessarily want to copy her. It’s her song. You can’t do Irma without doing a little Irma.

“It was so much fun to sing.”

Later at the party, John Magnie of the subdudes performs “Agent Double-O Soul,” a mid-1960s release by Edwin Starr. A performance of the song at the 1983 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival by The Works, a band featuring a pre-subdudes Magnie, can be heard on a podcast here. Magnie was another of McAlary’s costumed-piano-player guesses at the Mardi Gras party.

McAlary’s friend Henry is played by Henry Griffin, a New Orleans educator, screenwriter and filmmaker. Griffin directed the amazing video for “Complicated Life,” performed by Clint Maedgen and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The clip, which visits a lot of territory “Treme” visits in episode 9, has had nearly 100,000 plays on YouTube.

When Annie spots Sonny busking, he’s performing “I Like It Like That,” a hit in 1961 for Chris Kenner, arranged by Allen Toussaint. Kenner also recorded “Land of a Thousand Dances.” Listen to a radio documentary by David Kunian about Kenner here. Registration is required but free, and enables you to hear other great mini-documentaries about classic New Orleans songs featured throughout “Treme,” including “New Suit,” “Indian Red” and “Do Watcha Wanna.”

Creighton orders (from Seth Hurwitz, a Washington, D.C., music club owner and friend of writer George Pelecanos) a bowl of gumbo, a barbecued shrimp poor boy and another Abita Amber at Liuzza’s By the Track, 1518 N. Lopez, especially popular during Jazzfest due to its proximity to the Fair Grounds Race Course. His bar-mate mentions Liuzza’s, 3636 Bienville, home of the Frenchuletta. “The sandwich is made on French bread opposed to the round Italian loaves, and they're cooked, which melts the cheese and releases some of the fat in the meat,” wrote Times-Picayune restaurant critic Brett Anderson in October 2006. “A blend of oils richer than a cold muffuletta's runs through the resulting sandwich.”

Creighton’s reply references a period in the late 1300s and early 1400s when there were two Popes -- one in Rome, the other in France.

The Steamboat Natchez steam calliope can be heard in the background when Creighton parks on the riverfront, not far from where Sonny’s argument with Annie opened the episode. Free calliope concerts occur at 10:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., just before the Natchez departs from the Toulouse Street Wharf on its 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. trips on the river. YouTube recordings of performances are here and here. Creighton hears the calliope again during his later ferry ride, though the larger Creole Queen is the boat briefly visible in the background during that scene.

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown recorded a version of the Hank Williams song “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).” Brown, who died a few days after Hurricane Katrina at age 81, was “guitarist, fiddler, vocalist and composer who wove threads of blues, big band swing, Cajun and country into his own unique, self-described tapestry of ‘American music,’” wrote the Times-Picayune’s Keith Spera in his obit for Brown. “Mr. Brown had been in declining health for months, as he battled emphysema, heart disease and lung cancer. As Hurricane Katrina approached, he fled from his home on a Slidell bayou to Orange, Texas, the town where he grew up. His Slidell house was subsequently destroyed by the storm.”